ISIS launches anti government radio station in Afghanistan

JALALABAD: TOLO news has reported that insurgents linked to the militant Islamic State (IS) group have launched an anti government radio station in Afghanistan to promote IS and attracts new recruits.

The broadcasting location is unknown but the provincial governor’s spokesman Attaullah Khogyani has said that efforts are under way to get the station off air.

The radio station Voice of the Caliphate broadcasts in Pashto through Nangarhar provincial capital Jalalabad and other districts, Nangarhar provincial council members, MPs and residents confirmed on Wednesday.

The broadcast content includes anti-establishment messages calling on the youth to turn against the government and join the ranks of IS.

“This radio is broadcasting from across the border and they had talks and maybe they reach a good result and remove the radio,” Khogyani said without clarifying who talks had been held with.

Residents who have tuned in to the station say IS broadcasts a message of militancy against the government and encourages youths to fight the administration.

Nangarhar provincial council member Nasir Kamawal said, “It is clear they [IS] have their own radio and I think it is broadcasting… and doing too much anti-government propaganda.”

Most of the publicity is that they must fight against the government, said a resident.

The government must shut the radio station down because the radio really has an effect on the youth, another resident said.

Residents who have tuned in to the station say IS broadcasts a message of militancy against the government and encourages youths to fight the administration.

However, the Nangarhar Information and Culture Department is unaware of the station. They are not aware about the radio station which is broadcast in insecure areas, the department head Aworang Samim said.

IS first began radio broadcasts in Iraq in early 2015.

A third resident fears (IS) is targeting unemployed youths, whom they are recruiting to fight their wars.

A senior commander of the self styled Islamic State has been killed in an air strike in eastern Afghanistan, Afghan intelligence officials said in the month of July, the fourth high ranking member of the militant group to be killed in the area.

Hafez Saeed was the leader of IS in the so-called Khorasan state, according to Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS), referring to an old term to describe Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He was killed along with 30 other militants as they gathered in Achin district of Nangarhar province late on Friday, the intelligence agency said. It did not give any further details about the air strike.